Giving All vs. Being "Best"

My wife was helped by a post by Carolyn Mahaney entitled Not Her Best. She shares a quote by G.K. Chesterton which points out that a successful homemaker must be able to do many things well and shouldn't have to worry about being "the best" at any one thing. Carolyn concludes by encouraging wives to "embrace the 'larger plan' ordained by our Creator. Let's not worry about being the best, but eagerly give our all to the broad calling of serving in the home." The full post is worth reading.

Comments (3)

My pastors often tells the congregtion to be the best in whatever it is that they do. He quotes Martin Luther. It kind of conflicts. Why else would God give women special skills too? Aren't they wasted to not perfect them?

Posted by Becky | July 12, 2008 1:43 PM

Becky,

I think what your pastor means is that we should always do our personal best. But that's different than being better than other people. Obviously, we'll never be "the best" in every category. The point Carolyn is making is that the diverse gifts required to be a homemaker should be honored and not made light of just because she's not "the best" at each one. This doesn't imply that she shouldn't seek to improve it just means she shouldn't feel condemned. Hope that helps.

Josh

Posted by Joshua Harris | July 12, 2008 9:05 PM

Ah, yes. It's a paradigm shift for sure, but one that is immensely freeing, if not for our flesh, for our spirit.

I know this is precisely something I have struggled with as I grapple with the realities of finding vision amongst the mundane.

Days of sorting through tiny, monotonous details leaves us feeling desperate and discontent if we don't see the eternity waiting there behind the temporal.

To keep in mind that God in His sovereignty has indeed made us the "best" if in only one category. The category of being the exact woman he has chosen to be the wife of this man and the mother to these children for this precise moment in time. The only woman who can influence them with the broad stroke of divine appointment.

That is a "best" I can roll about in and relish with every fiber of my being. The immediate reality of simply being best because I was chosen.

Posted by Heather | July 16, 2008 3:36 PM

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